KIDDIE GRADUATION

THE KIDDIE SCHOOL 'MOVING UP'

I was priviledged to speak at the 'Moving Up' ceremonies of the LAMP Preschool in Calatrava, Romblon, Philippine on Monday 24 March. It was, to say the least, an enlightening time.NOTICE THE TEXT for this pre-schoolers address to the gathered assembly. She had spoken most of it from memory, then had to resort to these notes. I think I didn't read Dick and Jane until second grade!

and this is in English, not her first Language.

They had more awards than I could think of: for scholarship, for character, for attendance, and on and on . . . This one was only moderately decorated.

RUS ALIT APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY SITE

This is one dream I have been privileged to be a part of.

I first met Rus in 1988 when he returned to Bali from overseas work with World Vision, his speciality was Appropriate Technology for developing countries. At that time he had a home in the mountains near Ubud, Bali, and he had installed some of his Appropriate Technology. The night before he took me up to that site, I had a dream in which there was a retreat center for tourists and seminars above a river. Rus had not told me any details about his site, only that it was in a village in the mountains. When I saw the site, I told Rus about my dream, similar to this location, above a river, but in a much more lush tropical setting than this particular village. He got excited and said this was his dream, and he hoped this would be the site, but the village wasn’t as receptive as he hoped. As a returning Balinese, he was regarded more as an outsider than Balinese.
Above: Rus and Made

The current site is indeed a lush tropical setting, not high above a river, but on the river bank, at the convergence of a stream and a river. I was amazed at the variety of palm, deciduous, and evergreens growing together! This site is rejected by the Balinese (they are very particular about water). The place was a place where aborted babies (it was their method of birth control in the past) were discarded, and considered full of spirits for that reason. They were all surprised that not only was Rus not afraid, but prospered at the site.

The dams that provide irrigation to 5 downstream villages.

APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY is a term for simple technological developments which require no outside energy source such as electricity or fuel, and utilize simple materials available locally. The technology makes life easier and more productive, also improves hygiene and thus health conditions. Rus’s developments include the hydraulic ram pump, which uses the power of falling water (needs 3 meters head, see video) to pump water to great heights. This first village I visited was some 30 - 40 meters above the river, and he was using the ram pumps to fill storage tanks (also Appropriate Technology)

At this beautiful retreat site near Tabanan, Bali, Rus has several ram pump examples in operation, as well as water tanks, water collection and purification, irrigation system that includes two low dams and irrigation ditch system that feeds five villages downstream, a water wheel which operates a rice mill (not used any longer), and several other samples of the Technology. He holds international Appropriate Technology seminars to train others, and now his pupils are carrying the simple methods of bettering village life to the world.

MORE FLO RETREAT

The 7 participating couples were pastors and wives from Tangerang, an area of Jakarta near the airport.

Scene showing one view from the retreat center

We celebrated three birthdays of participants
Women have their own gathering to share their secrets,
while the men have their’s, too!

We have games and activities that promote paying attention to one another, communication of love in a variety of languages.

At right is one presenting a flower to his wife at a special ceremony we had the second evening.

VIVINA is one of the students in the DTS class. We had just completed teaching the first step of pulling ourselves out of depression and adversity from Philippians 4:4 (rejoice in the Lord always). When I invited all the students to stand and practice rejoicing, she remained seated. When I went back to her to challenge her, I saw that her feet were resting on a chair in front of her. She said she did not stand because her legs hurt.

I told her of the woman in the Surabaya DTS that had remained seated during worship because she was tired, and how when she was obedient and stood, she had been restored. I asked her if she would like to try to stand in obedience to the Word of God in Philippians 4:4, and she said she would. Long story short, as she started to rejoice with all the class, she was healed, and bounced up and down with joy, rejoicing not just in obedience but she was really free. Later that afternoon she said she wanted to share the testimony with the class. I told her there would be time for testimony the next morning.

The next morning, as we were having testimonies, I noticed that Vivina was not there. They said the sickness had come on her again. Long story short, they went down and brought her up, and essentially the same routine was repeated. She decided to rejoice, and as she rejoiced, she was healed. This time she not only bounced up on her toes but she jumped. The next day, she testified that this was the first time in her whole life that she had jumped! Now she was truly healed and she knew it!

All this occurred in the context of our teaching about seeing the unseen and appropriating the unseen promises of God (see teaching in JESUS the WORD blog), in this case the promise of healing. God had provided the demonstration of the teaching!

NOTES FROM JAKARTA FLO COORDINATOR

NOTES FROM JAKARTA FLO COORDINATOR

I want to thank you for your prayers. I delivered my sermon this morning at Yosep's [FLO Alumni] church. Wow, his congregation is very responsive! Their spirit is excellent, if you ask them to read everybody started to read in one accord. It was great! Yosep has an excellent spirit and his wife is a real pastor's wife who cares for her flock, you can see it from the way she greeted her congregation. It's an adventure to find the church; the church is just at the end of a lane. From the highway you go through a small winding street about 4-500 meters I think and at the end of it is a road track to the left and there is the church about 50 m in front of you.

I was fortunate to have Tri and Kim with me. When I ponder I find it very interesting to find out how God gather all these pastors for FLO, they come from places that you would never think of or imagine, from remote places. And how God works in their life, you should hear his testimony how he got started. Yosep himself comes from South Sumatera (Palembang). He depends entirely on God and God did wonders in his life. After joining FLO retreat God blessed him with a car, he's going to give his testimony about this during the next meeting.

UNEXPECTED TREASURE - COACH SANTI

Meet Coach Santi, one of our BOSS coaches. When I asked her what she got from BOSS this year, she excitedly replied “a husband!” I was more than a bit surprised.

She explained that when she heard the teaching in ‘Hope to a Thing,’ how God provides for dreams, visions, and ideas to become reality, she applied the principles to her dream of meeting the right guy. Now she is engaged and planning a marriage, as God during this year has brought her dream to reality!

LEADERSHIP SEMINAR IN ROMBLON

Every year during Holy Week (the week before Easter, for those who may not know) I go with my hosts Mirlo and Gloe, founders of the LAMP Christian Development Center and LAMP Christian Fellowship church (someday I will feature their story) to Gloe’s home town Calatrava, Romblon, for church meetings, a Leadership Seminar of some sort, and a Youth Camp.

This year the Leadership Seminar was 3 days, with a commissioning of leaders at the conclusion. 7 teams from different communities were commissioned, including two from the Manila area that took the overnight boat and hour trip over rough roads to attend.

The town mayor attended when he could, and the Philippine Ambassador to Iraq attended most of the sessions, being on leave from his post for a few days.

More photos in the gallery on our web site www.eagles-wwj.org